Bartering in Stickers

Well here I am, back in France. It was 50 degrees when I left two weeks ago, so I left my fleece coat at home. It has been below freezing, in the 20s since I got back though! I thought I left all this cold weather behind in Seattle. It even snowed on me when I made the 15 minute trek home from the train station on Monday night...dragging my 50 pound suitcase full of American snacks...after 22 hours of travelling...it was tough. And now, I repeat, here I am! The homesickness that floated with me all the way over the Atlantic is finally gone and I can start to have fun again.
Tonight I made brownies (one of those American snacks I hauled 6,000 miles) with Katrin and Vanessa, two other assistants. We ate our brownies fresh out of the oven, then hiked up Katrin's hill, in the snow again, to the public swimming pool for the evening free swim. Shoes are not allowed in the dressing room which I wholeheartedly support. (Why don't we do that??) And this is yet another European location that gives students (I still use my SPU card!) a discount - only 2 euro. Vanessa, of course, was scandalized by this because, as she tells it, everything in Canada is free! Pools, ice skating...even driver's ed. is cheap!
"But how does the city make any money?" I asked.
"Oh it's all free," she replied, "but they make us pay to park there!"
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Once in the pool I think we swam a total of three laps in one hour, but we got in a lot of talking. We treaded water for a while and then I won the whocanswimthefarthestunderwaterwithout-takingabreath contest - quite an accomplishment I thought.
"I feel like Ryan Phelps!" I exclaimed. And then, "Wait, that's wrong isn't it? I'm such a bad American!"
Vanessa and Katrin laughed pretty hard, but that was nothing compared to when Katrin (from Bravaria) told us (mid-tread) that she had been in a "sticker community" at school. For some reason, this was the funniest thing I had heard all week! She meant that she had collected stickers in primary school and her class had traded them like baseball cards. But I just loved the way she put it! It sounds like she lived in a city of people who bartered in stickers or something.
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Tomorrow we three go to our third concert together. This time Debussy and ... well, as a matter of fact I can't find my program. But the theme is: Impressionism!